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EU regulators should ban the mining of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on the Proof-of-Work algorithm due to its energy intensity. Eric Theden, Vice Chairman of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), said this to the FT.

In his opinion, without the intervention of supervisory authorities, an increasing amount of green electricity will be directed to the extraction of digital assets, and not to replacing carbon energy sources.

He noted that in his native Sweden, bitcoin mining has already become a national issue.

The solution is to disable Proof-of-Work. The Proof-of-Stake algorithm has a significantly lower energy profile, Theden said.

What is Proof -of-Work and Proof-of-Stake?

In Sweden, he heads the Financial Supervisory Authority. Theden was appointed to the ESMA position in December 2021.

In November, the official, together with the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, Bjorn Reisinger, called for a ban on energy-intensive mining in the European Union.

There are other mining methods that can also be used for Bitcoin and Ethereum, estimated to reduce energy consumption by 99.95% while maintaining functionality, they stressed in a statement.

Possible support for the initiative of Swedish government agencies was announced by the government of Norway. They also referred to unjustified energy costs.

Recall that in July 2021, the French regulator proposed to give ESMA the authority to control the crypto industry.

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The European Union called for a ban on mining on the Proof-of-Work algorithm - The Times Hub

This informal meeting will be made up of a series of sessions dedicated to environmental challenges, attended by environment ministers, and a series dedicated to energy challenges attended by energy ministers. All of the ministers will meet for two joint sessions: one on the role of forests and the wood industry in climate, energy and environmental policies and one on the just transition.

Protecting natural environments and improving human health will be central to the environment ministers talks. The first session will focus on European action regarding phytosanitary products. In its Farm to Fork and Biodiversity strategies, the European Union set itself the goal of cutting pesticide use in half by2030. Achieving this goal means collectively carrying out the agroecological transition, in particular by ensuring that imported foodstuffs are produced in compliance with EU environmental and health standards. The focus of the discussions will be best practices in the EU Member States concerning the implementation of measures to reduce plant protection product use and the provisions to be incorporated into a harmonised European framework. The ministers will also address measures to ensure Europes high food safety standards are applied to imports of foodstuffs treated using phytosanitary products. They will also have the opportunity to discuss the need to ensure that dangerous chemicals banned on the internal market are not produced for export outside the EU.

Talks will then hone in on the EUs chemicals strategy for sustainability. Several pivotal texts will be recast by the end of2022, including the Reach Regulation and the Classification, Packaging and Labelling Regulation (CLP Regulation). Other projects on the agenda will include examining measures to stop dangerous chemicals banned in the EU being produced for export. Ministerial debates will identify measures to be taken to effectively implement the chemical management framework for the protection of the environment and public health (the One Health approach).

The third item on the environment ministers agenda is the fight against imported deforestation. The Commission published a proposal for a regulation on 17November2021 that aims to prevent goods from supply chains associated with deforestation and forest degradation from being imported into the EU. This draft regulation also aims to increase European demand for deforestation-free products. During this informal ministerial meeting, the environment ministers will highlight best practices, products and ecosystems to prioritise as well as cooperation with third countries, with the aim of ensuring that European action against deforestation is as effective as possible.

As for the energy ministers, they will continue ongoing debates that began in the European Council and the Council of Ministers, on protecting consumers from extremely volatile and historically high gas and electricity prices, while pursuing the Unions climate goals.

The primacy of energy efficiency, a principle based on reducing energy consumption and waste as a key lever, must be more systematically taken into account in public policy. Building this principle into other national and European climate change policies will be at the heart of the ministers talks whether they concern combatting energy precarity, security of supply, innovation or competitiveness.

Furthermore, the energy ministers will examine the outline for the new hydrogen economy: how to speed up the development of low-carbon hydrogen, while addressing current uncertainty regarding the technological difficulty of producing it and its place in Europes energy mix in the future.

The environment and energy ministers will also meet to discuss closely overlapping climate, environment and energy challenges. In the first joint session, together they will define the role in these policies of forests and the forestry sector and how to juggle the various challenges they face. This will namely concern enhancing carbon sinks and increasing renewable energy production. Forests are at the heart of the European Green Deal and the EUs transition to carbon neutrality.

Lastly, the ministers will consider the principles of the just transition and a green transition that is socially acceptable. The transition to a carbon-free economy and society involves major transformations that will change how we consume, produce, work, exchange and coexist. For it to be a success, Europe must ensure it is a socially just and inclusive transition that meets the needs of the most vulnerable people and places in society.

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Last reviewed on 20 January 2022

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Informal Meetings of Environment and Energy Ministers, Amiens, 2022 January - French Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2022 - EU News

19 January 2022

Duane Morris LLP

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In theAchmeacase the Court of Justice ofthe European Union (ECJ) held that Article 8 ofthe Netherlands Slovakia bilateral investment treaty, whichallowed for the resolution of disputes by way of arbitration, wasincompatible with EU law. The rationale for the decision was that atribunal may have to interpret or apply EU law and where a questionof law arose, unlike a Member State court, that question of lawcould not be referred to the ECJ. In other words, intra-EUbilateral investment treaty arbitration provisions, as reasoned bythe ECJ, deprived the EU courts of jurisdiction in respect of theinterpretation of EU law.

We raised the prospect that the ramifications from the decisionwere potentially far reaching and were not, it seemed, confined tothe BIT between Netherlands and Slovakia.

To read the full text of this post by Duane MorrisattorneysVijay BangeandMatthew Friedlander,pleasevisit theDuane MorrisLondon Blog.

Disclaimer: This Alert has beenprepared and published for informational purposes only and is notoffered, nor should be construed, as legal advice. For moreinformation, please see the firm's full disclaimer.

POPULAR ARTICLES ON: Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration from European Union

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The Ongoing Fallout From The Achmea Decision - Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration - European Union - Mondaq News Alerts

Why the European Union is in the news?

The European Union has been declared an LGBTIQ Freedom Zone. The European Parliament through a resolution on 11th March 2021 symbolically declared the union as Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender-Intersex-Queer Freedom Zone.

With this, IAS Exam candidates should know which countries comprise the European Union and what are the objectives of the EU among other relevant information.

European Union is an international organisation consisting of European Countries, which was formed in 1993. It came into force after the signing of the Maastricht Treaty by 28 countries. The Maastricht Treaty is also known as the Treaty of the European Union (TEU). Maastricht is a city located in the Netherlands. The Maastricht Treaty was amended thrice. The amendments are listed below.

Brief-Facts about EU for UPSC

UK made an exit from the EU on 31st January 2020

The objectives of forming the European Union are listed below.

European Union was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 2012.

Following the aftermath of World War II. European leaders realised that only large-scale integration would be an antidote to the extreme nationalism that was the cause of the global war. Winston Churchill wentfurther and advocated the emergence of the United States of Europe. The 1948 Hague Congress was a pivotal moment in European federal history, as it led to the creation of the European Movement International and of the College of Europe, where Europes future leaders would live and study together. The founding of the following unions which eventually evolved into the European Union:

The original 6 members of European Communities were

European Union Brexit

On January 31, 2020, the United Kingdom (U.K) formally left the European Union. U.K is the first country to leave the E.U. The exit was in accordance with Article 50 of the Treaty of the European Union.

Read more about BREXIT and its impact on India at the linked article.

The 7 important decision-making bodies of the European Union are listed below.

European Parliament

European Council (E.C)

European Commission

Council of the European Union

European Union Economy

Q 1) Why is the United Kingdom (U.K) leaving the European Union?

As per some reports, some of the main reasons for the U.K leaving the E.U are mentioned below.

Q 2) Is Switzerland a member of the European Union?

Switzerland is not a member of the European Union. However, it has signed a number of treaties with the European Union. E.U is the largest trading partner of Switzerland.

European Union UPSC Notes:- Download PDF Here

The European Parliament, which represents the EUs citizens and is directly elected by them; the Council of the European Union, which represents the governments of the individual member countries. The Presidency of the Council is shared by the member states on a rotating basis.

The purpose of the European Unions purpose is to promote peace, establish a unified economic and monetary system, promote inclusion and combat discrimination, break down barriers to trade and borders, encourage technological and scientific developments, champion environmental protection

The above details would be of help to candidates preparing for UPSC exams from the perspective of the mains examination. You can know more about the topics asked in the exam by visiting the UPSC Syllabus page.

Related Links:

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European Union - An Overview of Treaties, Origins ...

Mr. Weber still regrets the loss of Fidesz. On one level, it is a relief, he said. But Orban leaving is not a victory, but a defeat in the effort to hold the center-right together as a broad peoples party.

It has helped Mr. Orban that the European Union has few and ineffective instruments for punishing a backsliding nation. Even the Lisbon Treaty, which gave enhanced powers to the European Parliament, has essentially one unusable tool: Article 7, which can remove a countrys voting rights, but only if passed by unanimity.

In 2017, Frans Timmermans, then the European Commission first vice president responsible for the rule of law, initiated the article against Poland. The European Parliament did the same against Hungary in 2018.

But both measures inevitably stalled because the two countries protect each other.

The treaty also allows the commission to bring infringement procedures legal charges against member states for violating E.U. law. But the process is slow, involving letters and responses and appeals, and final decisions are up to the European Court of Justice. Most cases are settled before reaching the court.

But according to studies by R. Daniel Kelemen of Rutgers University and Tommaso Pavone of the University of Oslo, the commission sharply reduced infringement cases after the addition of new member states in 2004. Jos Manuel Barroso, a former commission president, bought into this to work more cooperatively with governments and not just sue them, Mr. Kelemen said. Mr. Barroso declined to comment.

Attitudes have shifted. With taxpayer money at stake, the next seven-year budget in the balance and the disregard for shared values shown by Mr. Orban and Mr. Kaczynski on leaders minds, Brussels may have finally found a useful tool to affect domestic politics, with a mix of lawsuits charging infringement of European treaties combined with severe financial consequences.

A marker has finally been laid down, Mr. Reynders said.

The big moment comes this month, when the European Court of Justice issues its ruling.

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How the European Union Allowed Hungary to Become an Illiberal Model - The New York Times